Sunday, July 29, 2007
"prison break"
| got this video in one of my egroups, a different way of disciplining inmates. it is very interesting. do take a look, and tell me what you think! :) Labels: ala lang |
Monday, July 23, 2007
the italian holiday photos
| as promised, here are the photos of our adventure... those three days were all full of fun, sun and good food! click here to see our trips to Grand St. Bernard, San Remo (they make very good pasta, as it is a brandname, as well!), Bordighera, Imperia and Aosta. |
Saturday, July 21, 2007
pasta, pizza and fresh seafood!!!!
| all those things we had during a 3-day holiday at the italian riviera! last weekend, we, together with the Ansermets' had a spur-of-the moment decision to take a beach holiday at the Liguria region of the Italian riviera... and boy did our cravings for great pasta, pizza and really fresh seafood got satisfied! it all started on monday of that week, J, a friend of ours told me they were planning to go to San Remo, Italy. it wasn't a nice week here in Switzerland - weather wise - it was raining, most of the time and was chilly. so when J told me they were going on Thursday of that week, I told hubby about it and I asked if him if we could join them. it was just a 5-hour trip and we badly miss the beach and the sun... problem was just that hubby went on SL that week and it wouldn't really be good to have another day of VL. so he told me, we can just do it on our own another time. so the days went by, and came wednesday, i heard from another friend (H) that J won't be going anymore this week, they moved their trip to next week because J's hubby was swamped with work. i told H, wow! i was really longing for that trip, for them.. and now they're moving it! we could really use some sun and sea breeze right now. and then, out of the blue, H said, do you really want to go? why don't we do it? i said, ok, i'll ask hubby again! and that i did! we initially planned to go from friday until monday, but H's hubby said it's not possible coz he, too, was on leave the monday of that week. so we settled to have a saturday-to-monday-at-least-5-hour-drive to the Ligurian region of the Italian Riviera! and then it was crunch time! we had to make bookings for the hotels, and plan an itinerary. both our families have little kids, so we were really keeping our fingers crossed that the long drive will not be too stressful. and it was not that difficult, actually. yes, the drive took a lot longer than 5 hrs... 5 hrs is when you do not do any pitstops - and that was just impossible for us! we left Vevey at 8:30, and we got to our hotels before 3pm, traffic was bad when it was about 120kms away from our destination and we had two pitstops. but, we got there safe and sound, thank God! so we got to our hotels (we took different hotels), rested a bit and changed to be ready to swim. when we got to the beach, we were really disappointed. we said is this all we get after a 6-hr trip??? the beach was crowded, typical mediterranean, the sand looks like sand used in constructing buildings (i.e. gravel and sand), there were lots of stones, there were long seaweeds in the water and the water was not clear! we were really disapointed, but we put on our happy hats and just enjoyed the sea breeze and relaxed on the beds cum parasol. we just had high expectations - having experienced the beaches of Boracay, Palawan and Bohol back in the Philippines - their coast was no match to our beaches! and their beaches close at 7pm, even when the sun was still up at 10pm. we stayed at the beach, water temperature was ok but it was a bit cold when you first get in. and at around 6:30 pm, we decided to go back to our hotels and prepare ourselves for dinner, this was when all the oohhhs and aahhs came! we went around the city, admired what felt like manila bay atmosphere (which is good, since we do miss the philippines!  ) and went restaurant hopping. most of the restaurants were fully booked! and the all served SEAFOOD!!! and yummy really fresh seafood at that! the capped the night with good italian espresso (they only serve cappuccino for breakfast, did you know that?), and off we went back to our hotels at around 11pm.the next day, we decided to go to look for nicer beaches, and the road took us to Bordighera, the town next to San Remo. we weren't sure what we will see there but this time, we've lowered our expectations. we couldn't find the road to the beach so when we felt we were almost going out of the town, we went back and just followed where everybody seemed to be going, parked the cars and checked out the restaurants. and we felt we hit jackpot when the first seaside restaurant we went to was really impressive! water was clear, they had a very nice little beach below the restaurant when you can rent the parasol and bed, they even had a small pile of rocks, which served like a breakwater structure. we asked if they still have available parasols in front, and they did! it's just that there was another couple who reserved the other two slots in front, so we had to share the little beach, but they were still not around so we felt the beach was all to ourselves. oh, and guess what? i think they got turned off by our noise that they decided to move to another part of the beach... giving the entire, i think 6 meters of beach all to ourselves! (hey, i tell you, that's really a big deal, considering seeing all those parasols lined up in the big beaches!). that's when we really felt we were on holidays, we stayed on that exact same spot from 11am until 6pm. we didn't care about our complexion anymore (but we did put on a lot of sunblock :D), we were just so happy about the spot and the food, and the breeze, and the water and everything! nothing will spoil that now! plus, we reserved for a restaurant for that evening already so we were basically all set for that day! so after the beach and a really tasty dinner, we headed back to our hotels at 11:30pm. the kids were all so tired... and so were we, but we had big smiles on our faces as we called it a (really great) day. :) the next day, we checked out after breakfast (oh, did i mention they served great breakfast, too?!). we decided to do a coastal drive, but traffic was horrible! so we went to the motorway, and just took the exit to that town that looked like the Greek beaches - Imperia. we went around town, walked in the old town, you can really see those italian-style eskinitas and the clothes drying out the windows. it was really a nice treat! then we decided to have lunch there, wanted some pizza but we discovered that Italians serve pizza only in the evening! so, so much for that, so we just went back to the port where we had some more seafood - nobody's complaining! :) after lunch, off we went again to continue our journey home the kids were all full and tired, so we took a long leg of the drive (i think the speedometer went up to 165kph!) and decided to have another try at pizza since it was already dinnertime and we still have one italian town we can visit before we cross the border. and was it a really charming town - Aosta, we had great gelato and pizza! finally, our italian food trip was satisfied - very satisfied, indeed! we left the town past 9pm, it was a longer drive crossing the border because of some construction... but we survived it! we got home at around 11pm and were all just tired but very happy with the impromptu trip. perhaps we should do it more ofter! :p it felt like ages since we've tasted really great seafood, we can't praise italian cuisine more! looking forward to another trip to Italy where we can eat our hearts out! check out some pics here  it's not much, because i haven't picked out photos yet, but i will post more pictures (hopefully) soon! ciao! |
Thursday, July 19, 2007
the first cut
today Simon recieved his first taste of the blade... i trimmed his not-so-thick hair so he can sport a clean-cut. i didn't plan on doing it today, but i suddenly had the urge to take the scissors and give him the cuts. it wasn't easy, because he kept looking at me while i was doing my thing, he kept looking up, wondering what the heck i was doing to his hair and what were those itchy little things falling down his face. good thing he had thin hair so we were done fairly quickly... but it was still a challenge since the venue was the bath tub and he was standing up, i should have done it in his chair so he'd stay a little bit still... well, next time! :) here's his before and after shots. more pics here. |
Monday, July 9, 2007
been a while...
feels like ages since i've last blogged. i can't seem to find time and the mood to write here these past weeks and the rainy weather doesn't help, but many things have happened. for one, the camera club now has a multiply site... it's just that it's set-up as private, so no one else can view it but us three members - we still don't have the courage to show our works to others yet. hehehehe... then there are these despedida's, baby showers and the usual (mostly window-) shopping - it is sale season, you know! i was able to buy a new travel cot, it's more than half the price less, so who can resist that???  and lastly i'd like to report is... i've managed to secure my 7th pram! yes, i know i said a while back that it would be unlikely to get that chicco ct 0.1, but i got a great deal and i have it now.. i was able to dispose of my last purchase at a very good deal, as well! so far, so good, i think i'm getting good at this buy and sell business... maybe i should consider this seriously! harharhar! and today, hubby didn't go to work, we sure have been having very busy weekends and badly need a break. so we're staying home today, i'll have my french lessons later and after that, with the rainy weather, it is really a pleasure to sleep and rest and just relax.  Labels: ala lang, swiss life |